Guillermo del Toro's The Strain coming to FX

[Colossal Spoons]

This was the one that got me, I mean that dude has stayed alive all this time just to get another crack as The Master, and then he has him in prime position to slap him on his Gregory with that nifty sword, and for no apparent reason he hesitates.

Made even more ridiculous considering a few episodes back, he was willing to walk through 1000 sleeping vampires to get to The Master.

 

[Donut]

Okay, but that doesn't explain why they didn't try to blow his head off. My issue is not that the sun didn't kill the Master, my issue is that the heroes just stood there and watched like complete doofuses.

Exactly they should have at least tried chopping off The Masters head & various body parts. They had plenty of time. Then once they see that not even the head comes off in the sun. Thats when they hesitate

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

I couldn't wait and spent a good portion of the morning reading what happens in the 2nd and 3rd books. This isn't a spoiler, but man does s**t get weird.

It certainly does t:, I cant wait for the next few seasons already, I hope they have the budget to do the 3rd book justice, thats my only worry. The books were great I cant recommend them enough.

Okay, but that doesn't explain why they didn't try to blow his head off. My issue is not that the sun didn't kill the Master, my issue is that the heroes just stood there and watched like complete doofuses.

Well, Setrakian was convinced the sun would kill him, and had spent his whole life trying to get the monster into the sun, he finally did, he wanted to savour the moment. The kicker is he was totally wrong about the sun killing him.

 

[Destructus86]

It certainly does t:, I cant wait for the next few seasons already, I hope they have the budget to do the 3rd book justice, thats my only worry. The books were great I cant recommend them enough.



Well, Setrakian was convinced the sun would kill him, and had spent his whole life trying to get the monster into the sun, he finally did, he wanted to savour the moment. The kicker is he was totally wrong about the sun killing him.

Yeah...I'm thinking that too. They thought the Master was dying and he wanted to enjoy the moment...they were all jaw-dropped when he ran off.

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

Yeah...I'm thinking that too. They thought the Master was dying and he wanted to enjoy the moment...they were all jaw-dropped when he ran off.

He has hated and hunted this guy for most of his life, he wanted to enjoy watching him be defeated, but he got it wrong, I didnt have a problem with it in the book and I dont think I will in the movie.

 

[Roose Bolton]

I just can't wait until they inevitably get to the flashbacks of Quinlan's life. I expect great things from McHattie.

 

[Golgo-13]

Yeah...I'm thinking that too. They thought the Master was dying and he wanted to enjoy the moment...they were all jaw-dropped when he ran off.

That's what it was. By the time they realize the sun was doing what they thought, he was gone.

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

I just can't wait until they inevitably get to the flashbacks of Quinlan's life. I expect great things from McHattie.

Surprised they cast him in this role, seems a bit old to me, after all, Quinlan wont age being what he is. But yeah, they could do a whole episode on his origins and story, and I hope they do.

 

[Roose Bolton]

Surprised they cast him in this role, seems a bit old to me, after all, Quinlan wont age being what he is. But yeah, they could do a whole episode on his origins and story, and I hope they do.

With all the stuff they add into the show to stretch things out, I could see a whole episode dedicated to him. It'd be interesting to see how they pull his origin off, budget-wise.

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

With all the stuff they add into the show to stretch things out, I could see a whole episode dedicated to him. It'd be interesting to see how they pull his origin off, budget-wise.

Budget wise I dont see his origin being a problem, I thought it was a bit too similar to a certain other character but obviously with it being in ancient times and Quinlan hunting the Master down over the centuries they will have to get a bit creative, but I dont see budget being the issue personally.

In fairness just in the book his origin was a chapter, so I could see it being an episode in the series.

 

[Roose Bolton]

I was mostly thinking of his time as a

Spoiler

Gladiator and centurion

that might drain on the budget a little bit more, but then, of course we're assuming that this will be like season 3 when we get to it, so it'll probably have a higher budget by then.

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

I was mostly thinking of his time as a

Spoiler

Gladiator and centurion

that might drain on the budget a little bit more, but then, of course we're assuming that this will be like season 3 when we get to it, so it'll probably have a higher budget by then.

Yeah, I wouldnt worry, I really dont see it being an issue by that point, we probably wont see it until season 3 or 4, and again, I think anything in his origin would be overly expensive to film.

 

[Sawyer]

http://deadline.com/2014/11/greer-grammer-cast-melissa-joey-lizzie-brochere-the-strain-1201282761/

French actress Lizzie Brochere (American Horror Story: Asylum) has joined the cast of FX drama series The Strain from Guillermo del Toro, Chuck Hogan and Carlton Cuse. The Strain is a high-concept thriller about Dr. Ephraim Goodweather (Corey Stoll),and his team of investigators who are called to examine a mysterious viral outbreak of an ancient strain of vampirism. As the strain spreads, Dr. Eph, his team, and an assembly of everyday New Yorkers, wage war for the fate of humanity itself. Brochere will play Coco, Palmers’ (Jonathan Hyde) personal assistant. She is repped by ICM Partners, Mosaic, Conway, VanGelder and Grant in the UK and Juanita Fellag in France.

http://deadline.com/2014/11/samantha-mathis-joins-the-strain-inbar-lavi-in-the-last-ship-1201284535/

Samantha Mathis (The Good Wife, Atlas Shrugged) has joined the cast of the FX drama series The Strain, from Guillermo del Toro, Chuck Hogan, and Carlton Cuse. The high-concept thriller centers on Dr. Ephraim Goodweather (Corey Stoll), who is called to examine a mysterious viral outbreak of an ancient strain of vampirism. As the strain spreads, the good doctor and his team, an assembly of everyday New Yorkers, wage war for the fate of humanity itself. Mathis, repped by Paradigm and The Schiff Company, will play Justine Feraldo, a no-nonsense City Councilwoman for Staten Island who manages to use her cadre of hardcore cops to cleanse Staten Island of bloodsuckers.

 

[Man in the Suit]

Chuck Hogan tweeted that season 2 is underway.

 

[smallville fan]

Here's hoping that they start taking tangents from the comics.

 

[Man in the Suit]

Guillermo Del Toro Opens Up About ‘The Strain’

Overall, how satisfied were you with the first season of “The Strain”?

You know, I think that it was a very steep learning curve in a way. We were very ambitious with the production values and visual aspects of it, and I think finding a balance between character and set pieces was, I think, was one of the things I feel we learned as we went along. I’m very satisfied. I love the response of the audience. I think that some traits or character storylines that seemed to … I’ll give you an example: the custody battle with Eph that, in the beginning, for the people that didn’t know the books, seemed to be a character trait that you see in other shows. When you get to episode 10, Kelly is taken. It took 10 episodes for people to know we’re not just doing this for another character trait. It’s going to become part of the backbone of the series. That episode for me, particularly, was very poignant, the ending of it. Finding the different strengths of the characters as played by the actors when they’re revealed … for example, David Bradley as Setrakian is a much harder, tougher, almost-relentless Setrakian than the Setrakian in the books, so we needed to start writing differently for him.

It was a huge learning curve for all of us, but we had fun, and we watch with great relief and gratitude and happiness that we have a very steady, very strong viewership. We were especially very daunted by the football season, and remained very strong and steady during that. For me, it was a particularly exhausting experience, because in movies you work for two years, three years, and then, basically, it all comes down to one or two weekends. You release the movie, there’s a box office return, there’s a critical consensus, and then that’s the end of it. With a TV series, you kind of learn week by week. You have certain dramatic arcs as life lines in the series that became quite intense for me at times.

How long do you foresee being involved in the second season before other responsibilities pull you away?

My hope is that I remain in that capability for the entire season. I originally was going to do a very small project around April or May, but there are some issues in the family that I have to take care of. So I decided that staying put was the best idea for the family, and “The Strain” allows me to do that, allows me to basically 20 minutes away from home. I’ll be shooting the pre-credit prologue of the pilot, I’ll be shooting the Silver Angel black and white Mexican movies, and I’ve been doing second unit last week, and I’ll continue to do it, God willing, through the season.

Generally speaking, people tended to like the creature design, but when the Master’s face was revealed, there were a lot of fans who weren’t quite happy about that. Did you hear any of that? Do you have any comment about the Master’s look?

I think that, honestly, half of a creature is the way it’s lit, and I think that the reveal of the Master, in retrospect, was done in a lighting circumstance that was not the one I would have gone with. I was shooting “Crimson Peak” during those episodes, so all I could do was keep up with the dailies and the VFX load that is my share of the package. VFX cannot do anything about cinematography, and I thought that the reveal of the Master should have been more moody, lit in a far more … in a way that is not so flat. The rest of it, I think that’s the way I saw him. I didn’t see him as the usual gaunt vampire. He’s a 7’3″ giant, so he needed to have this very brutish face, and I think that I will stand by that. At least I will assume responsibility over that part. I do think that the cinematography suffered in that particular reveal.

Season two is filming already, is that correct?

Yeah, we’ve been shooting for a week. And I can say that the first appearance of the Master in season two is far more moody.

More: http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2014/12/02/guillermo-del-toro-opens-up-about-the-strain/

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

^All sounds great, not finished season 1 yet but man, as a fan of the books the show so far has me very satisfied.

 

[Jesse]

For the most part I enjoyed the series premiere. It's nothing mind blowing but it was a solid start. The casting is pretty good but a couple of the characters felt 2-dimensional especially the goth rock star guy. David Bradley was kind of bad ass as Professor Setrakian though. Visually everything looks pretty cool. The practical effects are solid, the CGI looks good and the gore is brutal. The scene where The Master drank that guy's blood then smashed his head in was pretty crazy.

Episode 2 "The Box" was pretty slow with a lot of characterization and it introduces the exterminator character Vasiliy Fet. The only actual horror was during the last 15 minutes though. Still the end of the episode was gruesome.

Episode 3 "Gone Smooth" The pacing was a little better in this episode than in the last. Eichorst putting his face on at the beginning of the episode was gross. Great use of a practical special effects makeup. Bolivar's transformation was also pretty graphic. Nice bit of horror at the end of the episode.

Episode 4 "It's Not for Everyone" was much better than the last few. Gruesome special effects during the autopsy scene. Seeing Sean Astin freak out was kind of funny. I like that his character came clean to Ephraim and Nora. Plus it was satisfying to see Ephraim punch him in the face. I actually enjoyed the scenes with Gus and think he's starting to be a pretty interesting character. Nice to see Jamie Hector from The Wire show up. Some excellent and tense scenes with Annie discovering Ansel's transformation. Setrakian was pretty bad-ass once again.

Episode 5 "Runaways" Interesting flashback featuring Setrakian. I hope that's something that keeps up throughout the series. The developing mentor relationship with him and Ephraim also seems promising. The scene where they confront Ansel in the shed was kind of cool. The scenes with Bolivar are easily his best so far. The sewer scene with Vasiliy Fet was also decent. The preview for next weeks episode looks like all hell breaks loose.

Episode 6 The pacing of this series is improving although I was hoping the eclipse would occur earlier in the episode. The Gus scenes are quickly becoming one of my favorite things about the show. The scenes with Vasiliy Fet were pretty good too. Nice to see Nora and her mother show up at Setrakian's pawn shop. Let the vampire hunting begin!

Episode 7. The opening scene with the deserted bar was kind of creepy and the subsequent attack scene was gruesome. I was hoping the eclipse scenes would last a bit longer though. Glad they are continuing the flashbacks. Nazi vampires are a bit cliche but they do it here well enough. The revelation that Setrakian hand crafted The Master's coffin was interesting. I thought the build up to the confrontation between Eichhorst and Setrakian in the subway was also pretty good. Wan't expecting that ending!

Episode 8: "Creatures of the Night" Nice to see Vasiliy Fet finally meet up with Ephraim's group, plus Dutch Velders too. Setrakian was bad-ass once again during the gas station scenes. Epic Rick Baker cameo! Can't say I felt bad about Sean Astin's character being infected. The gas station ceiling caving in looked pretty cool. I was hoping to see more of Mr. Quinlan in this episode. I hadn't realized at the time but under the vampire makeup is actor Stephen McHattie.

Episode 9 "The Disappeared" The flashbacks scenes continue to be good especially the scene where the Master confronts young Setrakian. Dutch Velders' emotional breakdown felt a little forced. The Gus scenes also continue to be good. The scene where Eichhorst pulls the bullet out of his own leg made me cringe. The Master's face reminded me of Max Schreck in F. W. Murnau's Nosferatu.

Episode 10: "Loved Ones" The flashbacks showing what happened to Kelly for the most part felt unnecessary and wasted half the episode. The scenes where Vasiliy Fet and Dutch Velders go to confront Eldritch Palmer weren't much better. The highlights of the episode are Kelly attacking her neighbor and her meeting the Master which was unexpected. Eph having to shoot the boy and finding Kelly's necklace was a pretty powerful moment.

Episode 11: "The Third Rail" was better than the last. It starts off slow but picks up about half way through. The Gus scenes were pretty good. The subway scenes were slow at first but got kind of good when that vampire was electrocuted. Zach was pretty stupid leaving the pawn shop to get Anne cigarettes. It was cool to see Gus show up when he did though. Hopefully he joins the group soon. The special effects makeup used for the Master looks pretty goofy. Loved the scene where Setrakian takes the sledge hammer to the Master's coffin. Great ending.

Episode 12: "Last Rites" The Setrakian flashbacks continue to be interesting. The Gus scenes with Jamie Hector from The Wire were pretty good and I wasn't expecting Mr. Quinlan to show when he did. Bolivar finally returns during Eichhorst's attack on the pawn shop and kills Anne. Nora having to decapitate her own mother was pretty brutal. The flashback reveal that Setrakian had to kill his own family and that the infected heart in the jar belonged to his wife Miriam was excellent. Palmer finally becomes a vampire.

"The Master" season 1 finale was overall pretty solid and left me wanting more. I wonder if Mr. Fitzwilliams will join up with Eph's group next season now that he doesn't work for Eldritch Palmer. It looked like Nora was about to get revenge on Bolivar for killing her mother. I hope we get to see that next season. Gus gets recruited by The Born and we find out sunlight doesn't kill The Master. I'm really looking forward to season 2!

 

[Man in the Suit]

Zach's been recast.

FX thriller drama The Strain is recasting the role of Dr. Ephraim Goodweather’s (Corey Stroll) son heading into Season 2. Max Charles, just seen in American Sniper opposite Bradley Cooper, has been cast in the part as a regular. He replaces Ben Hyland, who played Zach Goodweather in Season 1.

“It is a pleasure to welcome Max Charles to the cast,” The Strain executive producer/showrunner Carlton Cuse said in a statement to Deadline. “We recast this part due to some specific story needs we have downstream. We are sad to see Ben go. He is a very talented actor and a wonderful person. We will all miss him and thank him for his great work.”


Working with kid actors on a series is always tricky as they grow, change and mature as seasons go by. I hear the second season of The Strain features a deeply emotional storyline involving Zach’s character, and the producers looked for a young actor with a range that can accomodate that.

http://deadline.com/2015/01/max-charles-the-strain-recasting-fx-1201343303/

 

[squeekness]

"....and the producers looked for a young actor with a range that can accomodate that."

Is this a polite way of saying the original actor couldn't quite cut it?

 

[Sawyer]

Is he good? Has anyone seen American Sniper?

 

[Roose Bolton]

Shoulda got Joe Anderson

 

[cheungcheung]

Weird....

 

[chamber-music]

The kid who played Zach wasn't the best child actor I've seen. I can understand what he got replaced.

 

[X-Ray]

"....and the producers looked for a young actor with a range that can accomodate that."

Is this a polite way of saying the original actor couldn't quite cut it?

pretty much. ouch.